Kenneth Kiyul Lee
Kenneth Kiyul Lee is a judge on theUnited States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.[1] He was nominated to the court by PresidentDonald Trump (R) on November 13, 2018, and confirmed by theU.S. Senate on May 15, 2019, by a vote of 52-45. He received commission on June 12, 2019.[2] To see a full list of judges appointed byDonald Trump,click here.
Lee was a partner in theLos Angeles, California office of Jenner & Block LLP from 2009 to 2019.[3]
TheUnited States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit is one of 13U.S. courts of appeal. They are the intermediateappellate courts of theUnited States federal courts. To learn more about the court,click here.
Judicial nominations and appointments
United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
On October 10, 2018, PresidentDonald Trump (R) announced his intent to nominate Lee to a seat on theUnited States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.[4] His nomination was received in theU.S. Senate on November 13, 2018.[1] To read more about the federal nominations process,click here.
 |
| Nominee Information |
| Name: Kenneth Kiyul Lee |
| Court:United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit |
| Progress |
| Confirmed 183 days after nomination. |
 ANominated: November 13, 2018 |
| AABA Rating:Unanimously well qualified |
| Questionnaire:Questionnaire |
| AHearing: March 13, 2019 |
| QFRs:QFRs(Hover over QFRs to read more) |
| Renom. QFRs:Renom. QFRs |
| AReported: April 4, 2019 |
| AConfirmed: May 15, 2019 |
| AVote: 52-45 |
Confirmation vote
The U.S. Senate confirmed Lee on May 15, 2019, on a vote of 52-45.[5] To see a full breakdown of the vote on the official U.S. Senate website,click here.
| Lee confirmation vote (May 15, 2019) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Yea | Nay | No vote | ||||||
 Democratic | 0 | 43 | 2 | ||||||
 Republican | 52 | 0 | 1 | ||||||
 Independent | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| Total | 52 | 45 | 3 | ||||||
Senate Judiciary Committee hearing
TheSenate Judiciary Committee held hearings on Lee's nomination on March 13, 2019.[6]Click here to access Lee's committee questionnaire.
The committee voted 12-10 on April 4 to advance Lee's nomination to the fullU.S. Senate.[7]
Nomination
On October 10, 2018, PresidentDonald Trump (R) announced his intent to nominate Lee to a seat on theUnited States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.[4] His nomination was received in theU.S. Senate on November 13.[1] Lee was nominated to succeed JudgeStephen Reinhardt, who died on March 29, 2018.[8]
At thesine die adjournment of the115th Congress on January 3, 2019, the Senate returned Lee's nomination to President Trump.[9]
Trump announced his intent to renominate Lee on January 30, 2019.[10] The Senate received Lee's renomination on February 6.[11]
TheAmerican Bar Association rated Leeunanimously well qualified for the position.[12] To read more about ABA ratings,click here.
Opposition from home-state senators
California SenatorsDianne Feinstein (D) andKamala Harris (D) expressed opposition to the nomination ofPatrick Bumatay,Daniel Collins, andKenneth Kiyul Lee. Feinstein and Harris, who both served on the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2018, said the White House announced the three nominations to theNinth Circuit Court of Appeals without consulting them.[13]
Feinstein said in a statement:
| “ | I repeatedly told the White House I wanted to reach an agreement on a package of 9th Circuit nominees, but last night the White House moved forward without consulting me, picking controversial candidates from its initial list and another individual with no judicial experience who had not previously been suggested.[14] | ” |
She said she and Harris "strongly opposed Daniel Collins." She also said she told White House Counsel Don McGahn that Lee "failed to disclose to our judicial selection committees controversial writings on voting rights and affirmative action."[15]
Lily Adams, Harris' communications director, said,[16]
| “ | Instead of working with our office to identify consensus nominees for the 9th Circuit, the White House continues to try to pack the courts with partisan judges who will blindly support the President’s agenda, instead of acting as an independent check on this Administration.[14] | ” |
McGahn wrote in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee ChairmanChuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that the White House tried for two years to negotiate with the California senators. He said he reached out to Feinstein on multiple occasions and added Harris "refused to engage with the White House at any level, whatsoever on the issue." McGahn said the president was "exercising his prerogative to nominate his own well-qualified nominees."[13][17]
Noteworthy cases
Proposition 63: ownership of large-capacity firearm magazines (2019)
On August 14, 2020, Judge Kenneth Lee, writing the opinion for a Ninth Circuit panel, stated thatProposition 63's ban on large-capacity magazines violated the Second Amendment. He wrote, "The state could ban virtually anything if the test is merely whether something causes social ills when someone other than its lawful owner misuses it. Adopting such a radical position would give the government carte blanche to restrict the people’s liberties under the guise of protecting them."[18]
Education
Lee received an A.B.,summa cum laude, from Cornell University in 1997. He obtained aJ.D.,magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 2000.[4][3]
Professional career
- 2019-present: Judge,United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
- 2009-2019: Partner, Jenner & Block LLP
- 2006-2009: Associate counsel and special assistant to PresidentGeorge W. Bush (R)
- 2001-2006: Associate, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
- 2000-2001: Law clerk to JudgeEmilio Garza,United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit[4][3]
About the court
The 9th Circuit hasappellate jurisdiction over cases heard in one of its subsidiary districts. These cases can include civil and criminal matters that fall under federal law.
The 9th Circuit hasjurisdiction over thedistrict courts in the followingdistricts:
It also has appellate jurisdiction over the followingterritorial courts:
- United States District Court for the District of Guam
- United States District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands
To read opinions published by this court, clickhere.
The federal nomination process
Federal judges are nominated by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. There are multiple steps to the process:
- The president nominates an individual for a judicial seat.
- The nominee fills out a questionnaire and is reviewed by theSenate Judiciary Committee.
- The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing with the nominee, questioning them about things like their judicial philosophy, past rulings or opinions, etc.
- As part of this process, the committee sends ablue slip to senators from the home state in which the judicial nomination was received, allowing them to express their approval or disapproval of the nominee.
- After the hearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote to approve or return the nominee.
- If approved, the nominee is voted on by the full Senate.
- If the Committee votes to return the nominee to the president, the president has the opportunity to re-nominate the individual.
- The Senate holds a vote on the candidate.
- If the Senate confirms the nomination, the nominee receives a commission to serve a lifelong position as a federal judge.
- If the Senate does not confirm the nomination, that nominee does not become a judge.
See also
External links
- Biography from theFederal Judicial Center
- Biography from Jenner & Block LLP
- United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
- White House announcement nominating Lee to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Footnotes
- ↑1.01.11.2Congress.gov, "PN2592 — Kenneth Kiyul Lee — The Judiciary," accessed January 31, 2019
- ↑Federal Judicial Center, "Lee, Kenneth Kiyul," accessed June 13, 2019
- ↑3.03.13.2Senate Judiciary Committee, "Questionnaire for judicial nominees: Kenneth Kiyul Lee," accessed June 13, 2019
- ↑4.04.14.24.3WhiteHouse.gov, "President Donald J. Trump Announces Eighteenth Wave of Judicial Nominees, Eighteenth Wave of United States Attorney Nominees, and Thirteenth Wave of United States Marshal Nominees," October 10, 2018
- ↑United States Senate, "Roll Call Vote 116th Congress - 1st Session," accessed May 17, 2019
- ↑Committee on the Judiciary, "Nominations Hearing," March 13, 2019
- ↑Senate Judiciary Committee, "Results of Executive Business Meeting," April 4, 2019
- ↑Congress.gov, "PN373 — Kenneth Kiyul Lee — The Judiciary," accessed April 5, 2019
- ↑Under Senate Rule XXXI, paragraph 6 of the Standing Rules of the Senate, pending nominations are returned to the president if the Senate adjournssine die or recesses for more than 30 days.Congressional Research Service, "Senate Consideration of Presidential Nominations: Committee and Floor Procedure," April 11, 2017
- ↑White House, "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Judicial Nominees," January 30, 2019
- ↑White House, "Twelve Nominations Sent to the Senate," February 6, 2019
- ↑American Bar Association, "Ratings of Article III and Article IV judicial nominees: 116th Congress," accessed March 13, 2019
- ↑13.013.1The Hill, "Trump, Feinstein feud intensifies over appeals court nominees," October 16, 2018
- ↑14.014.1Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑United States Senator for California Dianne Feinstein, "Feinstein non Ninth Circuit Nominees," October 11, 2018
- ↑The Sacramento Bee, "Trump defies California senators with 9th Circuit judge nominations," October 11, 2018
- ↑CNN, "White House nominations to 9th Circuit set off firestorm," October 13, 2018
- ↑Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, "Duncan v. Becerra," August 14, 2020
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - | United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit 2019-Present | Succeeded by - |
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Active judges | Chief Judge: Mary Murguia • Mark Bennett (Hawaii) • Kim McLane Wardlaw • Morgan Christen • Ronald Gould • Johnnie Rawlinson • Consuelo Maria Callahan • Milan Smith • Jacqueline Nguyen • Lucy H. Koh • Sal Mendoza, Jr. • John B. Owens • Michelle T. Friedland • Lawrence VanDyke • Bridget S. Bade • Danielle Forrest • Ryan Nelson (Idaho) • Eric Miller (Washington) • Patrick Bumatay • Daniel Collins (California) • Kenneth Kiyul Lee • Ana de Alba • Gabriel Sanchez (California) • Holly Thomas • Daniel Bress • Jennifer Sung • Roopali Desai • Anthony Johnstone • Eric Tung | ||
| Senior judges | Mary Schroeder • Andrew Hurwitz • Diarmuid O'Scannlain • Andrew Kleinfeld • Sidney Thomas • Barry Silverman • Susan Graber • Margaret McKeown (California) • William Fletcher (California) • Richard Paez • Marsha Berzon • Richard Tallman • Richard Clifton • Jay Bybee • Carlos Bea • Sandra Ikuta • Randy Smith (Federal appeals judge) • John Clifford Wallace • Dorothy Wright Nelson • William Canby • Stephen Trott • Ferdinand Francis Fernandez • Michael D. Hawkins • Atsushi Wallace Tashima • | ||
| Former judges | Anthony Kennedy • Lorenzo Sawyer • Joseph McKenna (Supreme Court) • William Ball Gilbert • Erskine Mayo Ross • William Henry Hunt (U.S. 9th Circuit Court) • Wallace McCamant • Frank Sigel Dietrich • William Henry Sawtelle • Francis Arthur Garrecht • William Denman • Clifton Mathews • Bert Emory Haney • William Healy • Homer Bone • William Edwin Orr • Walter Pope • Dal Lemmon • Richard Harvey Chambers • Stanley Nelson Barnes • Oliver Hamlin • Gilbert Jertberg • Charles Merton Merrill • Montgomery Koelsch • Benjamin Duniway • Walter Raleigh Ely, Jr. • James Marshall Carter • Shirley Hufstedler • Eugene Allen Wright • John Francis Kilkenny • Ozell Trask • Herbert Choy • J. Blaine Anderson • Thomas Tang • Cecil Poole • William Albert Norris • Charles Edward Wiggins • Frederick Hamley • Alex Kozinski • Matthew Hall McAllister • William Morrow • Frank Rudkin • Harry Pregerson • Stephen Reinhardt • Pamela Rymer • Raymond Fisher • James R. Browning • Alfred Goodwin • Joseph Sneed • Procter Hug • Betty Binns Fletcher • Otto Skopil • Joseph Farris • Arthur Alarcon • Warren Ferguson • Robert Boochever • Cynthia Holcomb Hall • Robert Beezer • Melvin Brunetti • Edward Leavy • David R. Thompson (Federal judge) • Thomas G. Nelson (Federal judge) • Curtis Dwight Wilbur • Albert Lee Stephens, Sr. • Albert Lee Stephens, Jr. • William Orr (9th Circuit) • John Kilkenny • Paul Watford • | ||
| Former Chief judges | William Denman • Walter Pope • Richard Harvey Chambers • Mary Schroeder • Sidney Thomas • James R. Browning • Alfred Goodwin • John Clifford Wallace • Procter Hug • Albert Lee Stephens, Sr. • | ||
Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court:Central District of California,Eastern District of California,Northern District of California,Southern District of California • U.S. Bankruptcy Court:Central District of California,Eastern District of California,Northern District of California,Southern District of California
State courts:
California Supreme Court•California Courts of Appeal•California Superior Courts
State resources:
Courts in California •California judicial elections •Judicial selection in California
